Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has sent letters of apology to 1,900 housing benefit claimants after it leaked some of their personal details in response to an emailed Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
The local authority said it had reported the error to the police and the Information Commissioner but has been unable to get a reply from the person the data was sent to.
According to a council spokesperson, the FoI request asked how many housing benefit claimants were renting from a private landlord. It was sent by email with no further contact details. The spreadsheet sent in response included the names and addresses of claimants.
The authority said no bank details were released, adding: “The council has no reason to suspect that the information has been used for identity fraud…or to sell to a marketing agency.”